SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION instructs employees to warn recipients about debt ceiling.

“In a government shutdown, Social Security checks still go out on time,” President Barack Obama said Thursday, the Huffington Post reported. “In an economic shutdown, if we don’t raise the debt ceiling, they don’t go out on time.”

ONLY if the President directs. Which he almost certainly will attempt to do.

POTEMKIN VILLAGES ALL AROUND: ObamaCare poster boy Chad Henderson and his dad haven’t signed up. Let's see -- on a $7,000 part-time annual income, could you afford a $2,100 (30%) insurance premium? I'm sure I couldn't.

UPDATE: From hero to zero.

WH OFFICIAL: ‘Doesn’t really matter to us’ how long shutdown lasts. Of course not. Obama made certain the Andrews AFB golf course was kept open....

NEED HELP SIGNING UP FOR OBAMACARE? The Obama administration has you covered. Simply dial 1-800-FUCKYO to reach the next available health-care provider. Seriously.

Well, almost seriously. There's a '1' (which doesn't have a letter equivalent) missing. The real number is 1-800-F(1)UCKYO.

WASHINGTON POST: the 30 richest members of Congress. For those of you who don't want to wast your time [very annoying commercial ad], I'll summarize: equally split, 15 Democrats and 15 Republicans; the 'poorest' of whom is only worth $12.1 million dollars.

AGAINST AMERICANS, YES. “Is the president putting the government on strike?”

NEW YOU CAN USE: 4 New Ways to Smuggle Messages Across the Internet.

AN APPLE A DAY:

Who has the better apple?

NEWT GINGRICH: Uber vs Prison Guards of the Past. Government is simply too damn big when it can pick winners and losers.

JON MCNAUGHTON is an established artist from Utah whose new paintings have attracted the international attention of millions over the last few years. Highly detailed religious and patriotic subjects are the focus of his paintings. The artists experiences and faith are the inspiration for his work.

Here is his latest painting:

Many Americans today feel a sense of dismay and horror as we see our country in a downward spiral; both economically, morally, and politically. President Obama's indifferent attitude and the continuous list of scandals and bad policy are leading the country to ruin.

As an artist I am reminded of the old saying "Nero fiddled while Rome burned." History believes that Nero himself may have set the great fire that burned a part of Rome during his leadership. Afterwards, he blamed it on the Christians who suffered great persecution under his rule. I see great similarities to what we are experiencing today. Obama fiddled, while the people witnessed the demise of America.

From my email.

MORNING EXAMINER: If you aren't essential, why are we paying you?

What sort of teachable moment is it when freaking Republican 'anarchists' (Harry Reid's term) are tripping over themselves to restore full funding for the departments of Interior, Educatiion, Commerce, and Labor? Or blithely re-upping the Transportation Security Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the FCC?

Scroll through the other links as well.

AUTUMN ARRIVES:

Acorns and other seeds have been falling for nearly a month now, but today is the first day I've seen the driveway covered with fallen leaves. Winter is coming.

HELP KIDS WITH CANCER? Reid asks: 'Why would we want to do that?' The first ObamaCare 'death panel' convenes -- on the second day of ObamaCare implementation....

BUDGET STALEMATE threatens bona fide shutdown for District of Columbia. Just put a fence around the Beltway so they can't get out....

Local (D.C. metro) talk radio asked callers to call in to tell how the government 'shutdown' affected them. During the time I was listening, not one caller had a negative comment to make. A common theme from the non-furloughed, non- government employees: "we're sympathetic to your plight, but now you know what it's been like for us these last 5 years."

NEWT GINGRICH: Obama is making lemons out of lemonade. Non-productive is one way to describe it; stupid is a better way; asinine is better yet.

DR. BEN CARSON: Outgrowing Alinsky-style name-calling. For Democrats, that's much easier said than done. It requires maturity, something in short supply on the Left.

THE OBAMACARE EXCHANGES ARE OPEN:

Originally seen in the Washington Times, the cartoon is online here.

MARK LEVIN TO OBAMA: You lay one hand on WW2 vets and I’ll bring half a million people to that memorial! Half a million is an underestimate.

AN EXAMPLE of the 'never let a crisis go to waste' mentality: Grayson jeered for fundraising as government shut down.

In Grayson's case, the rule is 'never miss an opportunity for personal gain'.

INSTAPUNDIT: Global warming predictions are hard. Hype is easy.